QuoteReplyTopic: Prog-Does The Recording Year Matter? Posted: May 28 2013 at 11:31

I was thinking how i seem to be fixated on the year of a prog recording, and feel blind as a bat if i don't know it.
And i was wondering how the rest of you feel about that?
Is the year an album was recorded important to you? Is it something you just have to know, or perhaps you could give two hoots about it, and don't care if you don't know what it is?
I think my date fixation comes from my Historical education and work background (Museum Technology Diploma, and resultant work in museums, historical research and archaeology) where dates are important (though not always the most important thing).
I am also a big Historical classical music collector, and there, again, i am blind without knowing what year the recording is from.

Does it matter to you?

"They want me to write differently. Certainly, I could, but I must not."-composer Anton Bruckner

It matters a great deal. Context is important, for one thing, as is not being clichéd. If, for example, mellotron intros were old hat in the 1990s, then it makes a difference if the album in question was recorded in the 1990s or in the late '60s.

It definitely helps me understand the album better - having it in historical perspective lets you know the context in which it was made. The country of origin is also helpful to know.

It's been an unconscious thing all my life, but when I'm listening to something I naturally gravitate towards that line of thinking. Sometimes if I'm listening to a radio station, and don't know what I'm listening to, one of the first things I'll wonder (or guess at) is when the recording was made. Then I subconsciously judge it with that in mind. Some songs are hard to tell. I can't say whether or not I'm fixated on finding that information, but I am at least naturally curious.

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Having studied History, I'm somewhat obsessed by the chronology of various events, including the history of arts or even the chronology of rock music. So, the recording year does matter to me, if not the month! It's always interesting to understand the choices of production or orchestration and knowing the year of recording can help it.

Sometimes, you hear a record that you enjoy. So, you're checking other albums by the same artist, but are disappointed: what can explain that? Is it an early record, made too soon? Had a key member left? Had the band been urged to write a "hit single" by its label?Knowing the recording year can also stop some controversies, when an artist claims to have been ripped off by another one: finding traces of an old demo is quite useful in such matters. It can also help you understand why you think that a band is lame: "Recorded in 1987? 4 years after Marillion's first LP? Oh yeah, now I get why everyone calls them "clone"!"

Should it matter? Probably not. The year a certain album was made should not affect if you like it or not, obviously. But it will really bug me if I didn't know. I want to know the context. For older albums it makes it seem like more of a relic, for lack of a better word. Sorta mystifies the music if that makes any sense.

To me, the year does not actually matter, at least in dictating quality. I don't have a problem separating historical "significance" from actual quality. For example, if something sounds dated and bland, I don't care if it's a pioneer. It's not going to warrant extra spins if I don't actually like it as much as a more modern album that uses similar instruments, forms, and tricks. The deciding factor is how engaging and emotive the material is to me.

With that being said, it is interesting just for the trivia factor. More of my favorite albums and individual tracks come from 1974 than any other single year. That doesn't mean any other album from that year is guaranteed to be a winner, and especially doesn't mean an album from any other year is guaranteed to be inferior. Ultimately, a year is just a number, not a determination of quality.

I was thinking how i seem to be fixated on the year of a prog recording, and feel blind as a bat if i don't know it.
And i was wondering how the rest of you feel about that?
...

I am also a big Historical classical music collector, and there, again, i am blind without knowing what year the recording is from.
...
Does it matter to you?

Wait a minute ... it doesn't matter what year the 5th or the 6th were composed! What matters is the ERA that it came from. It doesn't matter what year Petroushka or Rite or Spring were written! It doesn't matter what year Turandot, or The Ring were written!

This is beyond weird ... as much music as you know, no history of it has affected your study and understanding of music in the 20th century at all ... that for the most part, everything in the past 50 years has become so popularized and commercialized that all we can think off ... is the fact that Stairway to Heaven came in 1974 (or 1972 or 1971 for those fanatics that are ignoring the theme of the discussion!) and nobody gives a cahoot about the time, the place and the ear ... that created it! It's not even about a person anymore!

Now you know why I am so blaze about these toys and lollipops and surveys and comparisons ... you don't sit here and compare Beethoven to Verdi, or Puccini ... !!!!

Edited by moshkito - May 29 2013 at 13:56

... none of the hits, none of the time ... you will, eventually, find your own art inside! Try it! www.pedrosena.com

I think you missed the point this time ... it is not the YEAR that was important ... it is the EAR that will forever remember it ... !!!! Otherwise, even Bach and Handel and all the other music is just crap for you because it wasn't 1514, or 1494 or 2714!

Edited by moshkito - May 28 2013 at 13:35

... none of the hits, none of the time ... you will, eventually, find your own art inside! Try it! www.pedrosena.com

For the sake of simple enjoyment of the music, no, the year does not really matter, but good music is like good wine - some years are better than others for the same vintage. There are a number of conditions which lead to how music is created and presented. Understanding those is critical to understanding the music and why it sounds the way it does. Contemporary music has a different quality than classical, not the least of which is the rapidity of the eras. The 70s are a very different musical era than the 90s. In classical music, eras are measured in decades, even centuries. The same insight that Moshkito applies, just on a shorter period of time. History is important. I think a lot of people who disparage older recordings, i.e. Sgt. Pepper's, don't understand how radical and innovative it was for the time. To appreciate how an album is something new, why it is a progression beyond previous works (as many define progressiveness on this site), one must know that historical context. Being there is helpful but not necessary. As another student of history, I can appreciate how something that has/had become commonplace and mainstream was at once new and challenging. Many currently regard, say, Jimi Hendrix as old hat, just another blues rocker, but they don't realize that nobody had done what he did before that and that every guitarist afterwards emulated him one way or another.

Knowing the year of production or release gives a context and provides a framework for how we approach the music. It conditions our experience. This is neither a good or bad thing in itself. So, the year is important for understanding as well as appreciation. For simple enjoyment, though, I don't think so. I myself can listen to something from 2009 right alongside something from 1972 and enjoy both equally. I can alternate between rock, jazz, classical, and various styles from around the world depending on my listening mood. Knowing the year and place of origin gives me a sense of what to expect.

The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty"

I think you missed the point this time ... it is not the YEAR that was important ... it is the EAR that will forever remember it ... !!!! Otherwise, even Bach and Handel and all the other music is just crap for you because it wasn't 1514, or 1494 or 2714!

Yeah! Sometimes I like to listen to the hits of 1974 and other times the hits of 1794. Both were great years for music.

The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty"

I actually care more about the year if its the seventies than after 1979. I often get muddled after that but I have a feel for the seventies possibly because I grew up through it and want to place an album in context. Its also fascinating that so many great albums were recorded in 1973 and the genre has been in decline ever since but refuses to go away

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